''Eucalyptus albopurpurea'', commonly known as the purple-flowered mallee box or Port Lincoln mallee, is a mallee or sometimes a tree that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It has loose, fibrous grey-brown bark on the lower park of the trunk and smooth grey bark that is shed in strips on its upper parts. The leaves are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, the flower buds are spindle-shaped to club-shaped and the flowers are white, pink, mauve or purple. Flowering can occur in most months and the fruit are cup-shaped or barrel-shaped capsules.

Description

''Eucalyptus albopurpurea'' is a mallee that grows to a height of or sometimes a tree high and has a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. It has rough, loose, fibrous bark on the lower part of the trunk and smooth coppery to pinkish grey bark that is shed in strips higher up. The leaves on young plants and

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...

regrowth are in opposite pairs, broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped, long, wide and the same dull bluish green on both sides. The adult leaves are arranged alternately, lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The adult leaves are the same glossy, dark green colour on both sides. The flower buds are arranged in branching

inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

on a peduncle long with between seven and eleven flowers in each

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

. Mature buds are club-shaped to oblong, long and wide on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

up to long. The operculum is conical to rounded. White, pink, mauve or purple flowers appear in most months. The fruit is cup-shaped to barrel-shaped or more or less cylindrical, long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming

The purple-flowered mallee box was first formally described in 1974 by

Clifford David Boomsma Clifford David Boomsma (20 October 1915 – 13 January 2004) was an Australian forester, botanist and botanical collector. Boomsma was born in Gawler, South Australia, Gawler in South Australia in 1915 and became a ward of the state at three year ...

who gave it the name ''Eucalyptus lansdowneana'' subsp. ''albopurpurea'' and published the description in the ''South Australian Naturalist'' from a specimen collected by Reginald Allan Dorward. In 2000,

Dean Nicolle 270px, Dean Nicolle and '' Eucalyptus deanei'' Dean Nicolle (born 1974), is an Australian botanist, arborist and ecologist. He is widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''. Nicolle was born in Adelaide, South Austr ...

raised it to species status as ''Eucalyptus albopurpurea''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''albopurpurea'') is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words ''albus'' meaning "white" and ''purpureus'' meaning "purple", referring to the variation in the flower colour.

Distribution and habitat

''Eucalyptus albopurpurea'' is only known from

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

and the southern tip of the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

where it grows on sandhills near the ocean and around seasonally wet areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396285 albopurpurea Myrtales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of South Australia Plants described in 2000